More nature: Rabbits v Hares

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Kinoulton
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More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Kinoulton »

Everywhere between our little patch and the nearby river is strictly hare territory. I've been here nearly six years and spent far too much time tramping the fields with my dogs!

I see loads of hares which the terriers love to chase without a cat-in-hell's chance of getting anywhere near one. But not one rabbit ever. Not in six years.

Yet elsewhere in East Yorks it's like Watership Down. Bunnies everywhere and no hares.

So do rabbits and hares simply not occupy the same turf?
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fleabane
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by fleabane »

Interesting!

Your post made me think back to when we lived in a part of Northamptonshire which frequently hosted the Stowe Beagles. Badgers and hares in abundance, but no rabbits!

Now in Lincolnshire, we have both rabbits and hares, but they are not seen together. Perhaps the hares avoid the warrens? Rabbits do not travel the distances that hares do, and seem to stay close to home.

(As for Rabbits v Hares, my money is on those boxing hares by a KO!).
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DickyP
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by DickyP »

Different habitats because of different lifestyles. Hares live above ground and rabbits in burrows. The former need cover and good vision for safety, the latter ground where they can burrow and ground that isn't waterlogged. The two aren't necessarily separate but tend to be.

However they both taste good.
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Rizzo »

Don't get CT started on bunnies again...
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Old Hob »

I have an old book by a Leicestershire poaching man who swore that "...hares could not abide the smell of rabbetts(sic)."
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cornish tigress
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by cornish tigress »

Ha, just seen this. Hares had better win, Mr Flea. Little rabbity beggars nearly drove me to distraction with their oh so cute floppy ears and nibbling vegetable habits. But then I moved, and in my new gaffe, I have rabbit-proofing by way of a large roaming dog and a main road. My vegetables are safe. Now the object of my hate is that :censored: cat from god knows where, and blight.

Kin, don't know, but I guess habitat differences makes the most sense?
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tigerburnie
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by tigerburnie »

It's not quite so cut and dried.Rabbits live above ground too,they are found on railway emankments and make nests in thick cover.These ones don't suffer from fleas,so no myxymitosis.
Hares however never burrow,but make scrapes or forms.Neither will live on ground that floods.
They do live in same areas,but in different bits of it.I used to shoot on a farm where rabbits were round the edges of the smaller enclosed bits of the land,the Hares like the flatter more open ground for most of the year.Both can over winter and feed in the same woods,but I've never seen them close to each other.Rabbits seem more nervous and stay close to cover,whilst Hares are confident in the ability to run.
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Kinoulton
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Kinoulton »

That's maybe why the hares like our turf. It's flat and easy to traverse, and the local farmer grows very tall crops in which the hares scoot around in large numbers.

Even the fastest and gangliest dogs fail to catch them, and my three little Terrorists have no chance. Which is good for me and the hares as it makes the dogs concentrate on ratting.
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Bill W (2)
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Bill W (2) »

In my neck of the woods we have rabbits and hares.

The hares tend to inhabit the higher flatter ground and the rabbits the lower ground.

The dogs rarely catch either (occasionally rabbits).

Hares when hunted run in circles. Rabbits zig zag. If you go after them in vehicles hares will "freeze" in the headlights.

Both make good eating!!
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Kinoulton
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Kinoulton »

I've noticed that hares run in circles, and if the pursuing dog had the geometric nouse to cut the circle, it might catch up.

But mine doesn't. He follows the hare's sent and runs the exact same circle, even though his quarry might be only a yard away in t'other direction.
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Rizzo »

Hares are quite meaningful and symbolic in spiritual pagan circles, rabbits are merely furry little creatures. :smt002 :smt003
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by cornish tigress »

perhaps they are running around in spiritual pagan circles :smt026
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Gate
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Gate »

Rizzo wrote:Hares are quite tasty and work well in autumn casseroles with spaetzle accompanied by an Amarone or a similarly burly red, rabbits are merely furry little creatures but still good eating on one of them. :smt002 :smt003

Fixed that for you. :smt002
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Granby »

Kinoulton wrote:I've noticed that hares run in circles, and if the pursuing dog had the geometric nouse to cut the circle, it might catch up.

But mine doesn't. He follows the hare's sent and runs the exact same circle, even though his quarry might be only a yard away in t'other direction.
Dogs with geometric nouse are a common problem when training greyhounds for racing. Regularly a dog comes along that twigs that if it nips across the track rather than run round it, it will more than likely catch the hare. Once a dog has done this and had some success in catching the hare it is almost impossible to train it out of the habit.
The dog wil then be surplus to requirements in the greyhound racing industry.

I am fairly confident that I have no idea what they taste like, although I have had the odd bit of food from various vans late at night that has made me wonder.
Kinoulton
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Re: More nature: Rabbits v Hares

Post by Kinoulton »

I think it's a problem with bboth dogs and horses. They can have all the breeding in the world, but just don't get the idea of racing.

Mind you, I think the reluctant horse is the more likely to end up in your greasy burger. There ain't much meat on a greyhound.
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